The One Appraising Us Is Christ (1 Corinthians 4:1-21) Series

Let's start today, by rereading 1 Corinthians 3:18-23:

(18) No one must deceive himself: if anyone thinks wise to be among you this age, a fool he must become,

in order he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world, foolishness with God it is.

For it is written,

"The One catching the wise in their trickery,"

and again,

"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,

that they are futile,"

with the result that no one must boast in humans.

For all things yours they are,

whether Paul or Apollos or Peter or the world or life or death or the things present or the things

coming.

Everything [is] yours.

Now, you are Christ's.

Now, Christ is God's.

Paul says, you are the big deal. Everything is yours-- everyone you want to call a leader, is your servant. The world is yours; life is yours; death is yours; the things present and the things coming are yours; everything is yours.

But then he finishes by adding this: "Now, you are Christ's. Now, Christ is God's.

You don't belong to yourself. You belong to Jesus. And even Christ doesn't belong to himself. Everything, ultimately, is for God and his glory. Including you.

So at the end of chapter 3, you Corinthians should have a pretty good idea of how you should think about yourselves, and how you should think about the people serving you like Apollos and Paul.

How does chapter 4 relate to this? Paul has been very carefully working his way toward chapter 4. What we will find this week isn't simply that some Corinthians prefer Apollos to Paul, and pit them against each other. What's happened, actually, is that the Corinthian church has rejected Paul. This, by itself, Paul could live with. Paul is happy to sacrifice himself for them. But this rejection is a symptom of a bigger problem in the church-- they have become proud. They boast in themselves. And that, is not okay. That, Paul can't live with.

So Paul continues his argument this week by saying this, in 1 Cor. 4:1:

(1) Everyone must consider us in this way : as Christ's assistants

and stewards/administrators of God's mysteries.

The Corinthians are making a really big deal about their servants. But Paul says, consider us like this: as Christ's assistants, and as stewards of God's mysteries.

In NT times, stewards were usually slaves-- but they were no ordinary slaves. Stewards worked for wealthy, powerful human masters. They basically ran the show-- they were put in charge of the master's entire household and estate. They managed the other slaves; they were given a great deal of responsibility in financial matters.

Paul and Apollos are Christ's stewards. That's how you should think of them.

Now, if you were a master, what kind of a person would you want running the show, when you find yourself busy with other tasks? You can't do everything by yourself; you are too powerful, with too many responsibilities. And so you delegate. But who do you pick?

Verse 2 tells us:

(2) In this connection, furthermore, it is desired in the stewards,

that faithful, they may be found.

If you are a rich, powerful master, what you are looking for, above all else, is stewards who are faithful. You need someone who is trustworthy, and loyal.

And this, basically, is the issue at Corinth. The Corinthians think Paul hasn't been faithful. They've found out through Apollos that there is far more to Christianity than what they were taught. Paul neglected to tell them about how the Spirit things work-- things like speaking in tongues, healings, prophecies, and words of insight.

There was so much they needed to know about Spirit things, and Paul taught them none of those things.

(Smirking) Maybe the best way to think about this, is that when Paul left Corinth, what he left behind, basically, was a church that was Baptist or Evangelical Free. And through Apollos, they've become charismatic-- they've become Pentecostal. And they are really peeved about this. Not because they miss being Baptists. They are peeved because they finally understand that Christianity is a religion of power. The Holy Spirit is now powerfully at work among them in big, obvious ways, in a way that He wasn't when Paul was the one teaching them. In a way that they didn't even know was possible, when Paul was teaching them.

In verses 3-4, Paul finally addresses this basic problem directly, after alluding to the issue in earlier chapters:

(3) Now, to me a trivial matter it is,

that by you I may be appraised,

or by a human court,

but I don't myself appraise.

For nothing against myself I am aware of,

but not by this I am made right.

If you're following along in English Bibles, you'll notice that where I have "appraised," English Bibles have "judged."